Will the ice caps melt by 2012?

Answers

Since 1979, the ice caps have shrunk by 20 percent. An additional 80 percent reduction over the next 3 years is highly unlikely. That’s not to say that there’s nothing to worry about, however. If policies and practices aren’t changed, much of the coastal United States will be underwater by 2100. Scientists project as much as a 3-foot sea-level rise by 2100. According to a 2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, this increase would inundate some 22,400 square miles of land along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, primarily in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina.